June 12, 2024 • 36 mins
Delve into the chilling case of the Keddie Cabin Murders, a haunting unsolved mystery that continues to baffle investigators. Join us as we explore the details of this true crime story that took place in a quiet California town, leaving questions unanswered and justice elusive. Watch now to uncover the secrets of the Keddie Murders and join the discussion on this perplexing case.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Imagine a case so brutal, so chilling, and so wreathed in questions, lies and cover-ups,
(00:05):
that it has the power to turn an entire community against one another.
Imagine becoming afraid of your own neighbors,
suspicious of people you've known all your life.
Join me for a ride through strange and mysterious, here at Odd Mysteries Stories.
That is exactly what happened in Plumas County, California on April 11, 1981,
(00:26):
when Sue Sharp, aged 36, was murdered alongside her son, John Sharp, aged 15,
and John's friend Dana Wingate, who was aged 17.
Sue's killers kidnapped her daughter Tina, who was 12 years old that night,
and later murdered her as well.
One bedroom over, three other children, remained unharmed but forever scarred.
(00:48):
The question of how and why they survived and what they did or did not see and hear
continues to linger to this day.
Every indication tells us this murder was thoroughly premeditated.
You're going to be shocked by the level of planning that apparently went into this crime.
(01:10):
The Keddie Resort was a crumbling resort situated on state route 70 in Plumas County,
California.
When the Sharps moved into cabin number 28 in 1980, the 32 cabins still circled a lodge,
a bar, restaurant, and a little store, but they no longer served vacationers.
Instead, the Keddie cabins had been converted into cheap housing for locals.
(01:32):
Keddie was literally on the, quote, wrong side of the tracks.
To the east of the Keddie cabins lay the railroad tracks and a series of trailers
owned by the railroad, the Sharps cabin at number 28, in fact, was part of a contract with
Western Pacific Railroad.
A yard arm attached to a tree outside their house served as the only real street lamp in Keddie
(01:54):
hardwired to a switch that controlled the porch light and was contractually mandated to stay on
at all times for the benefit of rail workers.
You'll be surprised how important this light becomes later.
In any event, there was nothing, quote, resort, like about the place by the time Sue moved into
cabin number 28, paying $175 a month for the privilege.
(02:16):
She, in fact, lucked into the cabin after the previous resident.
Then Plumas County Sheriff Doug Thomas moved out.
You may have a reason to question whether Doug Thomas's status as a former resident
has any bearing on this case.
Cabin 28 itself was a ramshackle affair.
It had been a one bedroom shack designed for railway workers.
The Keddie resort expanded it twice before the Sharps moved into it in 1980,
(02:40):
resulting in two small bedrooms and an unfinished basement.
Sue slept in the back bedroom with Tina and Sheila, sleeping in a small low bed beside her
larger one.
The young boys had bunk beds at the front of the house.
John took the unfinished basement.
To a 15 year old boy, it no doubt felt like he'd lucked out and scored his own little
(03:01):
apartment, even though he had to climb an exterior set of stairs to reach the rear entry
of the house or walk around to the front door every time he wanted to use the bathroom.
There was no interior entrance leading to the rest of the home, and a family only had
one key, so the Sharps left both entrances to the cabin unlocked at all times.
(03:25):
If you happen to read accounts of the Keddie murders and you'll hear a quote tail of two
sews, newspaper accounts from the 1980s paint Sue as a quiet, well liked single mother who
worked hard and made sacrifices to care for her kids on the meager income, a lot of the
her kids on the meager income allotted to her by her ex husband, James and the welfare system.
(03:45):
The truth is quite a bit more complicated.
Several accounts suggest that Sue was a neglectful mother who often had no idea where her
children were at any given moment and who often simply left them behind at home so she
could pursue her own interests.
She also supposedly had several affairs, including with Marty Smart in Cabin 26, who
(04:09):
you will learn becomes one of the main suspects in this case.
Daughter Sheila was likely a parentified child.
Witnesses say she was often forced to care for her younger siblings.
Often she would send the boys outside to go play then stay inside and watch television with Tina.
Ricky, age 10, and Doug, age 5, would often spend the day playing unsupervised in a ditch near the
(04:34):
cabin. Sheila also had her own problems. Impregnated at the age of 13, she ended up spending a year
living with her aunt in Oregon, returning only after her mother Sue put the baby up for adoption.
Dana Wingate was practically a member of the family, perhaps in more ways than one.
He and John hung out with one another constantly, often hitchhiking back and forth between Cabin
(04:59):
number 28 and Dana's foster home. John and Dana were probably at least peripherally involved
with the local drug culture. All in all, the sharps weren't exactly the quintessential
boring, struggling family that Doug Thompson made them out to be when he was speaking to
reporters in the 1980s. And while few families escaped complications, it would seem this one
(05:22):
had more trouble than most.
The Seabolt family are also an important part of this story. They were the sharps' next door
neighbors. The family consisted of James Seabolt Sr., his wife, Zonita, and his children, Alyssa,
Paula, and Jamie. Tina Sharpe slept over at the Seabolt family cabin quite often.
(05:46):
In fact, she was the sharps sister most likely to be spending time with the family.
She slept over most Fridays and Saturdays. The Seabolt never let their own children sleep over
at Cabin number 28 as they considered Sue to be inattentive but welcomed sharp children on a
regular basis. Nevertheless, Sheila's presence at the Seabolt cabin that night was highly unusual.
(06:10):
It was, in fact, the first time Sheila had ever slept over at the Seabolt home. Sheila later
claimed she was good friends with Alyssa. It was unusual for Tina to go home as well.
Sheila claimed Sue summoned Tina home, stating she did not have permission to stay at the Seabolt's
that night. The Seabolt's had no reason to question this story. It was the Seabolt's who would later
(06:34):
run to the lodge and call the police on behalf of the Sharpe family.
If the Sharpe family was complicated, the Smart family was even more so.
Martin Smart was an ex-army and a Vietnam veteran, though he never saw any real action.
He was a cook on a non-combat base in South Vietnam. Nevertheless, his military career was
(06:56):
marked by a two-month stay in the brig in part because he was already involved with drugs.
Later, he would try to claim PTSD for disability money. He would go on to have four children
with Marilyn Lune Smart in a relationship peppered with threats and violence.
In the 1980s, after the bodies were found, Marilyn herself would go unnoticed by the media,
(07:19):
though police questioned her on numerous occasions. Of those children, only Justin Smart, age 12,
was living with Marty and Marilyn at the time of the murders. Marilyn was allegedly no more
attentive than Sue, often losing track of her son Justin's whereabouts. You'll be shocked to
discover how this inattentiveness contributed to the case. Like Sue, Marilyn was also known for
(07:45):
having her own share of affairs. By the time the Sharps moved down the street, Marty was working
as a cook at Ketti Lodge Restaurant. As part of his compensation package, he received free rent at
number 26. Shortly before the murders, he lost his job. Rumor has it he was fired for dealing drugs
out of the back of the restaurant at the time. Losing his job meant losing free rent. He was
(08:09):
going to need to start paying his rent. One time, he briefly lived with a friend, former mobster named
Bo Bood in Reno. Bo would later come back to move into cabin number 26. Marty Smart and Bo Bood B.D.
are most likely to have been the two people who entered the cabin on April 11th with murder on
their minds. Yet they walked free until their deaths, along with several potential co-conspirators.
(08:36):
A fourth family story touches on the tale of the Ketti murders. The Meeks family, overseen by
family matriarch Nina Meeks. Nina Meeks was supposedly Sue's best friend in the area, and they often
spent time together. One of Nina's sons, Wade, was allegedly involved with Marilyn Smart at the
time of the murder. The other Richard Meeks may have been the father of Sheila's child. Up to six
(09:00):
people could ultimately have served as accessories, accomplices, and potential instigators in this
case. The Meeks are shadowy figures in this story. Keep them in mind as you continue to explore these
chilling events. On the morning of April 12th, Sheila returned home to cabin 28 to change clothes for
(09:21):
church. She spotted three tied up bodies. They'd been bludgeoned and stabbed to death. She then ran
back to the Seabolt home. The Seabolts, who did not have a phone, raced to the lodge to report the
crime to the police. Three people were dead in the house, but three people still lived. The spare
bedroom held Greg Sharp, age five, Rick Sharp, age 10, and Justin Smart, age 12. The two Sharp boys
(09:47):
were in the bottom bunk. Smart was in the top bunk. The media would report they likely slept
through the crime. I think you're going to have reason later on to question that assessment.
Sue, John, and Dana were beaten to death with claw hammers and stabbed multiple times. Yet Rick
(10:10):
and Greg supposedly remain sound asleep on the bottom bunk. One room over. At least one scream
was loud enough to briefly rouse neighbors in cabin 16. Directly behind the Sharp cabin, it is highly
unlikely the boys slept through the whole thing. Justin Smart was there too. Curled up in the top
bunk without Marilyn or Marty's knowledge or permission. He was the murder's only known eyewitness.
(10:36):
Traumatized and confused, he at times told investigators he saw everything through a crack in the
door. Influenced by his trauma, he at times said he dreamed the whole thing. He has recounted both
the witness version and what he called the quote dream version, which is eerily similar to the
former but more stylized as if relayed from a place of dissociation and fear. Either way, he
(11:01):
described two suspects tying up Sue, John, and Dana before beating and torturing them to death.
All indications show a young man who did the best he could in the face of horrific circumstances
and did what he could to aid the police. He even tried fruitlessly to warn Doug Thomas that Tina
was missing and presumed not dead and that the killers may have taken her quote down by the river.
(11:26):
While nobody has ever said so, there's a good chance he might have told the younger boys in the
bunk beneath him to be very quiet and very still, protecting them as best he could. He might even
have heroically ordered them to freeze and pretend to sleep. More horrifying still, the police found
blood on the door to the boys room. They found blood on the wall inside. As you'll soon learn, the
(11:50):
murderers would have been covered in blood at the time, soaked and steeped in it. It's my guess that
they walked inside. They saw all three boys and most likely saw that Justin was awake. There was a
reason why they chose not to remove this final loose end. This last eyewitness, when Justin
Smart stared into the eyes of a killer that night, was he staring into the eyes of his own father,
(12:14):
was his presence in that room that night? The only reason Greg and Rick were spared? Later, Sheila
Sharp and Jamie Seabolt would help the three boys climb out the window so they wouldn't have to
walk through the blood-soaked house to leave the cabin. The Keddie murders were so premeditated
that even the timing of the murders was planned and accounted for. Many cabin residents were out of
(12:40):
town for school vacation, reducing the number of potential witnesses. In addition, based on the
normal schedules of several of the individuals involved, quite a few people were in that cabin who
weren't even supposed to be there that night. As mentioned, Tina spent nearly every Friday and
Saturday night with the Seabolds, so she shouldn't have been there that night. John and Dana wouldn't
(13:03):
have been there under normal circumstances either. They both often spent weekends with friends. John
would generally return home on Sunday night so he could be ready for school in the morning. If John
and Dana were the target, someone followed them there. No adult seemed to realize that Justin
Smart was spending most nights at the Sharp cabin. If Sue were the target, her killers would have
(13:26):
expected her to be home alone, save for two very young boys and perhaps Sheila. Sheila had not
been there long enough to establish a regular schedule. What do you think? Do you think the
killers got more than they bargained for? The initial investigator for the case was then County
Sheriff Doug Thomas, the very man who had lived inside cabin number 28 prior to the Sharp family.
(13:51):
He was also known to be Marty Smart's good friend. And Marty had been a guest at his cabin many
times in the past. He said he did not believe that Marty and his friend Bo were the culprits.
Residents reported that Thomas was often seen in the company of drug dealers and counted many of
them among his friends. Trust in the Plumas County Sheriff's Department was already at an all-time
(14:12):
low by the time Doug Thomas rolled up to the crime scene in cabin number 28. Doug Thomas told
the papers the murder was all about Tina, but no other evidence seems to indicate that is the case.
There is a good chance Tina was taken and killed for one reason and one reason only because she
witnessed something she was never meant to see. The only question was why the murderers took her
(14:35):
off the property instead of killing her with the others. Both potential answers I found will
chill you to the bone. Later, two Department of Justice agents arrived to investigate, but they
weren't from homicide. They were from the organized crime unit. One of the suspects, Boby Deed, was a
former member of an organized crime outfit in Chicago. Their presence on the case immediately
(14:58):
caused confusion and suspicion among the residents. Do you think the DOJ was there to lend their
honest efforts to the case? Or do you think they were there to protect Bo, a man who might well
have been a witness on what they would have considered to be a much bigger and more important
case than the murder of an impoverished single mom and a handful of teenagers? Officer Mike
(15:23):
Gamberg was among Thomas' employees at the time. He had a personal connection with the case
and was friendly with John Sharp and Dana Wingate. Wingate had visited his home just a day or so
before the murder, but Mike been suspended on an unrelated matter. When he got back to the force,
he was kept far from the case. He tried to give Doug Thomas leads, but Doug ignored everything
(15:48):
Mike had to say. Gamberg is important because by 1983, the case had essentially been shuttered.
It remained so until a new sheriff rode into town. Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood reopened the
case in 2016 and summoned Gamberg back to the force to serve as a special investigator. Hagwood
and Gamberg completed most of the credible work on the case. They arrived to find a mess of a case
(16:13):
file. Leads had been dropped and evidence had been lost, contaminated or ignored. Yet they have
continued to spend eight years faithfully attempting to put the pieces together so that the
surviving family and community could have justice at last. By 5 p.m. on April 11th, Sue, Ricky,
(16:40):
Greg and Justin settled in for dinner in cabin number 28. Sheila and Tina were next door in
cabin number 27 having dinner with the Seabolds. Sheila told the Seabolds that Sue wanted Tina home
that night before 10 p.m. Across the way, in cabin number 14, a man named Thomas spotted a woman
doing dishes in the kitchen at 8 p.m. Tina returned home at 9 p.m. Sheila accompanied her
(17:06):
retrieved night clothes and returned to the Seabolt residence. Between 9 p.m. and 9 30 p.m. Sue
received a phone call. Greg, Rick and Justin Smart heard her say, who is this before hanging up?
It is possible someone made the call to verify that Sue was home. Rick, Greg and Justin Smart were
all in bed by 10 p.m. An hour later, Sheila and the Seabolds went to bed at 11 p.m. At 11 30 p.m.
(17:34):
a neighbor named Arthur, a resident of cabin number 11, walks by the house on his way to the
back door bar. He noted the cabin and the street were unusually dark. Multiple neighbors said the
same thing, that it was dark in front of the cabin and the darkness was unusual because Thomas
spotted someone doing dishes in the home at 8 p.m. We know the lights were likely still on at that
(17:59):
time and would have gone off somewhere between 8 o'clock and 11 30 when Arthur walked by. Remember,
the only way to turn off the street light was with cabin number 28's porch light switch inside the
cabin as the two were hardwired together. There are contradictory accounts of when John and Dana
(18:21):
arrived and who brought them home. They'd spent most of the evening trying to get a ride back to
Keddie without much success. Some accounts say they made it home by 10 p.m. Others say they were
home by midnight. Either way, they most likely went straight down to the basement. Meanwhile,
at about 10 p.m. Martin Smart, Boba Day and Marilyn Smart go to the back door bar dressed to the
(18:48):
nines. Martin and Bo wore flashy suits and cheap sunglasses while Marilyn wore a long white dress.
Very few people were at the bar that night, but those who were there said the trio was acting
weird. By 1 a.m. Martin claims to have been, quote, pissed off by a change in the music. The three
people were stormed out and Marilyn claimed to have gone home. Their route would have taken them
(19:12):
right past the sharp house. At around 1 p.m. 15 a.m. two people named Barbara and Michael in cabin
number 16 awake to hear muffled screams. They soon dismissed the screams and go back to bed.
Chances are around this time Dana and John run up from the basement to try to save Sue and Tina.
For their heroism, they soon become the next victims. Bo and Marty claimed they returned alone to
(19:38):
the bar at 1 p.m. again walking past the sharp house. Nobody seems to have a solid time stamp for
the two men's arrival at the back door bar for the second time that night. What do you think?
If Bo and Marty were walking by the house at exactly 1 p.m. on the way back to the bar, they
likely would have heard the same screams as cabin 16. Unless of course at 1 p.m. 15 they were inside
(20:03):
the cabin committing murder. Is it possible they went to the bar and were as showy as possible in
the hopes of being seen so that they could attempt to establish some kind of an alibi? We know one
thing for sure. By the time those two men returned to the back door bar, Sue was dead. John and Dana
were dead and Tina had been taken. Police uncovered quite a bit of evidence at the scene. One of the
(20:32):
two hammers used to commit the murder as well as both of the knives. A bent steak knife and a
sturdier butcher's knife. The medical tape and electrical cords used to bind the victims were on
site and did not appear to have come from cabin number 28. Police also recovered a yellow blanket
that someone had used to cover Sue. They found evidence of an 880 BB gun or pellet rifle, the
(20:58):
butt of which had been used to hit Sue, though this was not recovered at the scene. The phone was
off the hook. There was blood everywhere, but all of it appeared to have come from the victims. The
bottoms of Sue's feet were covered in it. The boys had blood on the bottom of their shoes as well,
indicating they had perhaps in a state of shock wandered through the blood at some point. 1981
(21:22):
was still too early for DNA collection at crime scenes, which would not begin until 1985. Therefore,
the initial investigation did not recover any DNA and the papers reported that there were no
prints at the scene. Investigators found Sue lying on her side, gagged and naked from the waist down.
Someone had rearranged her out of what had previously been an indecent condition and covered
(21:47):
her. There were defensive injuries on her arms. Some suggest that Justin Smart covered Sue's body
before scuttling back to the top bunk. Eventually, police would collect more than 200 pieces of
evidence from this scene, even dismantling the walls. Yet the entire investigation was completely
mishandled. Greg Hagwood would later say, if the right things had been done, this case would have
(22:10):
been solved within weeks. What do you think? Were Doug Thomas and the two DOJ investigators who
arrived in Plumas County incompetent? Or was this a deliberate cover-up? Wait until you hear how
the evidence was handled after the fact. The Keddie murder case is an unusual case for my channel
(22:32):
because unlike many of the crimes I cover, there is a strong chance that we most likely know the
identity of at least two of the murderers, even though nobody was ever charged in connection
with this crime. Yet investigators say they believe there may be at least four other accomplices out
there somewhere. As there is no statute of limitations on murder, these accomplices may yet be
(22:53):
charged and brought to justice. Questions swirl about the identities of these accomplices and their
motives for murder. The identity of at least one of the potential accomplices is sure to shock you.
Let's talk about the most far-fetched theory first. Okay? In this theory, John and Dana were the
(23:15):
targets of the murder. Witnesses say that the two might have stolen ten sheets of acid, perhaps to
fuel a rumored, quote, acid party that was taking place in the region on the night of the murders.
Witnesses report they saw John and Dana arguing with two young Native Americans earlier in the day
and that the Native Americans had threatened to kill them if they didn't get what they want.
(23:36):
Was this a drug crime, an act of retribution over stolen drugs? Perhaps. This theory mostly seems
like a red herring. Given according to toxicology screens, neither John nor Dana had any drugs
or alcohol in their system that night. While hearsay says that both boys dabbled in marijuana from
(23:58):
time to time and that they certainly spent a lot of time hitchhiking between cabin number 28 and the
home where Dana's foster parents lived, the type of trouble they got into seemed to be normal teenage
trouble. In addition, if someone followed them home, they'd have known to go into the basement
through the exterior entrance rather than into the home and straight to Sue's room.
(24:21):
While Hagwood and Gamberg claim at least six people could have been involved in the murders,
Bo and Marty are the suspects we know the most about. Accounts vary as to the relationship between Marty
and Sue. There were rumors of an affair between them, but other rumors said Sue was trying to talk
Marilyn into leaving Marty because of his abusive behavior. Marilyn herself claims that Marty also
(24:48):
hated John and Tina and that he threatened to break John's hands just one month prior to the murders.
The act of rage story is certainly the prevailing and most popular story. Do you think it's as simple
as a pair of violent men committing violent acts only to be aided by a friendly or incompetent
sheriff who mishandled the entire investigation or do you believe there's more to it than that?
(25:18):
The third theory involves Nina Meeks. Nina claims that on April 11th until returning home at 5 p.m.
Sue and her kids were all over at her house playing board games and having a great time.
Several eyewitness accounts contradict this claim leading to an important question. Why did she lie?
(25:40):
Some have suggested that Nina wasn't really Sue's friend in the end. Sheila claimed Richard Meeks was
the father of her baby despite the fact that many of Dana Wingate's friends claimed he was extremely
worried that the baby might have been his. Perhaps Nina became enraged when Sue put the baby, her grandchild
for adoption and arranged to have Sue murdered as a result. This theory doesn't explain who did the
(26:07):
actual deed. There's no suggestion that any of the Meeks boys were anywhere near the crime scene that night.
However, the sharps, Meeks and Smarts were quite intertwined and Marty was facing eviction.
Is it possible she offered a desperate man and his friend, the former hitman, money so that they would
retaliate against Sue on her behalf? This theory is the darkest and most disturbing of the four theories.
(26:36):
It describes a conspiracy between Sheila Sharp, Marilyn Lune Smart, Bobo Bay D. and Martin Smart with perhaps
two others providing support or withholding information. In this theory, each of the four had their own motives
for committing the brutal murder. First, Marilyn was allegedly deep in an affair with Wade Meeks.
(26:57):
After the murders, she moved in with him and they became romantically involved for a time.
Members of the community recount that while Marilyn felt free to sleep around herself, she became
enraged when Marty cheated on her. Marty had his brief stay in Reno with Bo after she kicked him out of the house.
Did she see Sue as a rival? Someone she wanted gone? Did she see an opportunity to have Marty charged with murder?
(27:21):
A neat, clean way to get him out of her life? Citing a fear of Marty, Marilyn moved out of cabin number 26 days
after the murder. She filed for divorce on April 23, 1981. Then there was Sheila, the parentified child.
Some accounts suggest she wanted to keep her baby and leaned hard into the narrative that it was Richards,
(27:43):
especially when Nina was around, that she hated her mother and hated her family and intended to move in with Nina Meeks
as soon as possible. Assuming Nina would never turn her own grandchild away, so that when Sue put the child up for adoption
instead, she wrecked Sheila's entire escape plan. Did she hate her family enough? To conspire with Marilyn?
(28:04):
Bo and Marty? It would explain why she slept over at the Seabolds when she'd never shown an interest in doing so before.
She also would have had an opportunity to switch off the porch light and thus the street light when she was getting her clothes.
Police later found the front porch light unscrewed as well. Doug Thomas' deputy Steve Wright would later reach up and absently
(28:28):
screw the light back in. Sheila's fingerprints were found on the light alongside Steve.
If this theory is true, it suggests a chilling narrative. Sheila herself was the only source of information about why Tina went home.
As inattentive as Sue was, summoning Tina home would have been strange. Did Sheila make up the story to send Tina to her death,
(28:52):
freeing herself from one more obligation? Perhaps she expected the boys to die too, not realizing that Justin Smart's presence would
ultimately complicate that part of the plan. If she did, Sheila put a monkey wrench into the plan because there's a good chance the
killers didn't expect Tina to be there. Was Tina's scream the one that the neighbors heard in cabin 16? She might have been curled up
(29:16):
in her little bed when it began, only to seal her fate by revealing her presence. What do you think? Do you think Sheila carefully staged her role
in these events, settling into bed that night in the hopes that every member of her family would be dead by morning?
(29:38):
One lingering question in this investigation is why the killers bothered to take Tina with them. If it was merely to silence an eyewitness,
they could have simply killed her while she was there in the cabin. Instead, it's possible Tina lived for two more years.
When her remains were found on April 22, 1984, in Plumas National Forest, a forensic anthropologist said she could have died at any time between the spring of 1981 and the winter of 1983.
(30:09):
Unfortunately, they only found parts of Tina's skull and were barely able to identify her with dental records, let alone determine the time or nature of the death.
One reason to take Tina might have been Bo himself. Marilyn claims that both of Bo's ex-wives were only 18 years old. One chilling possibility is that he liked young girls
(30:31):
and wished to keep her for his own purposes until he ultimately disposed of her, leaving practically nothing behind. It's also possible that even these cold-blooded killers had an attack of conscience.
Perhaps they injured Tina, but she hadn't died yet. Killing a little girl in cold blood might have been too much even for them. Perhaps she later succumbed to her injuries
(30:54):
and when they dumped the body, wild animals got to her, destroying most of the evidence. Do you have a theory as to why the killers took Tina and where and how she died?
If so, let me know in the comments below. When Hagwood reopened the case in 2016 and brought Gamberg back on board, the two men sprang into action.
(31:18):
By now, Martin Smart was gone having died in 2006, as was Bo Baobidi having allegedly died in 1988. Nevertheless, the two lawmen believed there were at least four more members of the community out there involved in the crime.
People who still needed to be brought to justice. What they found left them in a state of dismay. Case history logs had disappeared entirely.
(31:42):
Many pieces of evidence had been contaminated. Some had been left in a freezer, but the freezer was turned off. Then there were plenty of leads that nobody had ever followed up on.
There was the fact that Martin, quote, helpfully told investigators he'd lost a hammer or maybe had it stolen before any investigator ever asked him about a hammer.
(32:05):
There was the letter that Martin Smart wrote to Marilyn after fleeing Kedde shortly after the murders, wherein the letter said, quote, I've paid the price of your love and now I've bought it with four people's lives.
You tell me we are through. Great. What else do you want? I've paid for your love. Please give it back at least once, end quote.
(32:27):
The letter was, quote, overlooked and never listed as evidence. Marilyn claims she never received it and learned about it from investigators.
Then there was a call from a Reno Veterans Administration counselor to the Department of Justice.
The counselor claimed that Marty Smart had confessed to the murders to a agents arrived at her office and took copious notes, then left.
(32:51):
It does not appear that anyone did anything with the information.
There was the chilling anonymous phone call that came into the Butte County Sheriff's Office on the day that Tina's remains were located.
The caller said, quote, I was watching the news and they were talking about a girl found at Feather Falls. I was just wondering if you thought of the murder up in Kedde.
(33:14):
In Plumas County a couple of years ago where a 12 year old girl was never found, the chances that any casual news viewer would connect the remains to the Kedde case were slim to none.
So Gamberg was appalled to find the tape in an envelope at the bottom of a box. He said the envelope was sealed and that nobody had ever listened to the tape.
He had scientists attempt to compare the voices on the tape with the voices of known suspects, but he has not disclosed to the public if he ever found a match.
(33:44):
Despite everything, Hagwood and Gamberg made some progress on the case.
In 2016, they located the missing hammer in a pond down the road from Cabin 28. They also pulled partial DNA from a piece of white medical tape used to bind the victim's hands.
The DNA was a match to at least one still living suspect, though they have not yet disclosed who that suspect might have been.
(34:10):
I could not find out why they have remained silent.
In 2021, Greg Hagwood and Mike Gamberg believed they were quote closer than ever to solving this case. Yet many years have passed and there have been no new arrests, no charges, no indictments.
Today, the Kedde Cabin sit in a virtual ghost town frequented mainly by shady characters and the occasional curious soul brave enough to venture onto the property.
(34:39):
Cabin 28 was torn down years ago. Do you believe that the questions surrounding the case will ever be answered or was this investigation already doomed by the time Doug Thomas arrived on the scene on the morning of April 12th?
Share your theories and insights in the comments below. Perhaps you can shed some light on the lingering questions swirling around this chilling and mysterious story.
(35:06):
I want you to know that listeners like you are the most important people to odd mystery stories. Thank you so much for listening to this story.
I hope you would please consider subscribing to my podcast. If you know of a story that is unsolved, strange, odd, and of course mysterious, I invite you to share the known details of that story with me.
(35:32):
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Again, that email address is with no spaces, odd mysteries, the number 4, and the letter u at gmail.com. I will do my very best to answer all messages, so don't hesitate to reach out to me.
(35:58):
In the next episode, I'll share the odd, mysterious story of the murder of Jill Dando.
On the morning of April 26, 1999, this well-known English journalist and TV personality was shot dead outside her home in southwest London.
The investigation that followed apprehended and ultimately convicted a local man. Only to have his conviction overturned eight years later, her murder remains unsolved.
(36:26):
Tune in as I share the details of this strange case in my next episode.
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Lastly, if you enjoyed this podcast and want to help it grow, head over to my Patreon page, buy me a cup of coffee, and donate to the show in exchange for future premium content.
Imagine a case so brutal, so chilling, and so wreathed in questions, lies and cover-ups,
(00:05):
that it has the power to turn an entire community against one another.
Imagine becoming afraid of your own neighbors,
suspicious of people you've known all your life.
Join me for a ride through strange and mysterious, here at Odd Mysteries Stories.
That is exactly what happened in Plumas County, California on April 11, 1981,
(00:26):
when Sue Sharp, aged 36, was murdered alongside her son, John Sharp, aged 15,
and John's friend Dana Wingate, who was aged 17.
Sue's killers kidnapped her daughter Tina, who was 12 years old that night,
and later murdered her as well.
One bedroom over, three other children, remained unharmed but forever scarred.
(00:48):
The question of how and why they survived and what they did or did not see and hear
continues to linger to this day.
Every indication tells us this murder was thoroughly premeditated.
You're going to be shocked by the level of planning that apparently went into this crime.
(01:10):
The Keddie Resort was a crumbling resort situated on state route 70 in Plumas County,
California.
When the Sharps moved into cabin number 28 in 1980, the 32 cabins still circled a lodge,
a bar, restaurant, and a little store, but they no longer served vacationers.
Instead, the Keddie cabins had been converted into cheap housing for locals.
(01:32):
Keddie was literally on the, quote, wrong side of the tracks.
To the east of the Keddie cabins lay the railroad tracks and a series of trailers
owned by the railroad, the Sharps cabin at number 28, in fact, was part of a contract with
Western Pacific Railroad.
A yard arm attached to a tree outside their house served as the only real street lamp in Keddie
(01:54):
hardwired to a switch that controlled the porch light and was contractually mandated to stay on
at all times for the benefit of rail workers.
You'll be surprised how important this light becomes later.
In any event, there was nothing, quote, resort, like about the place by the time Sue moved into
cabin number 28, paying $175 a month for the privilege.
(02:16):
She, in fact, lucked into the cabin after the previous resident.
Then Plumas County Sheriff Doug Thomas moved out.
You may have a reason to question whether Doug Thomas's status as a former resident
has any bearing on this case.
Cabin 28 itself was a ramshackle affair.
It had been a one bedroom shack designed for railway workers.
The Keddie resort expanded it twice before the Sharps moved into it in 1980,
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resulting in two small bedrooms and an unfinished basement.
Sue slept in the back bedroom with Tina and Sheila, sleeping in a small low bed beside her
larger one.
The young boys had bunk beds at the front of the house.
John took the unfinished basement.
To a 15 year old boy, it no doubt felt like he'd lucked out and scored his own little
(03:01):
apartment, even though he had to climb an exterior set of stairs to reach the rear entry
of the house or walk around to the front door every time he wanted to use the bathroom.
There was no interior entrance leading to the rest of the home, and a family only had
one key, so the Sharps left both entrances to the cabin unlocked at all times.
(03:25):
If you happen to read accounts of the Keddie murders and you'll hear a quote tail of two
sews, newspaper accounts from the 1980s paint Sue as a quiet, well liked single mother who
worked hard and made sacrifices to care for her kids on the meager income, a lot of the
her kids on the meager income allotted to her by her ex husband, James and the welfare system.
(03:45):
The truth is quite a bit more complicated.
Several accounts suggest that Sue was a neglectful mother who often had no idea where her
children were at any given moment and who often simply left them behind at home so she
could pursue her own interests.
She also supposedly had several affairs, including with Marty Smart in Cabin 26, who
(04:09):
you will learn becomes one of the main suspects in this case.
Daughter Sheila was likely a parentified child.
Witnesses say she was often forced to care for her younger siblings.
Often she would send the boys outside to go play then stay inside and watch television with Tina.
Ricky, age 10, and Doug, age 5, would often spend the day playing unsupervised in a ditch near the
(04:34):
cabin. Sheila also had her own problems. Impregnated at the age of 13, she ended up spending a year
living with her aunt in Oregon, returning only after her mother Sue put the baby up for adoption.
Dana Wingate was practically a member of the family, perhaps in more ways than one.
He and John hung out with one another constantly, often hitchhiking back and forth between Cabin
(04:59):
number 28 and Dana's foster home. John and Dana were probably at least peripherally involved
with the local drug culture. All in all, the sharps weren't exactly the quintessential
boring, struggling family that Doug Thompson made them out to be when he was speaking to
reporters in the 1980s. And while few families escaped complications, it would seem this one
(05:22):
had more trouble than most.
The Seabolt family are also an important part of this story. They were the sharps' next door
neighbors. The family consisted of James Seabolt Sr., his wife, Zonita, and his children, Alyssa,
Paula, and Jamie. Tina Sharpe slept over at the Seabolt family cabin quite often.
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In fact, she was the sharps sister most likely to be spending time with the family.
She slept over most Fridays and Saturdays. The Seabolt never let their own children sleep over
at Cabin number 28 as they considered Sue to be inattentive but welcomed sharp children on a
regular basis. Nevertheless, Sheila's presence at the Seabolt cabin that night was highly unusual.
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It was, in fact, the first time Sheila had ever slept over at the Seabolt home. Sheila later
claimed she was good friends with Alyssa. It was unusual for Tina to go home as well.
Sheila claimed Sue summoned Tina home, stating she did not have permission to stay at the Seabolt's
that night. The Seabolt's had no reason to question this story. It was the Seabolt's who would later
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run to the lodge and call the police on behalf of the Sharpe family.
If the Sharpe family was complicated, the Smart family was even more so.
Martin Smart was an ex-army and a Vietnam veteran, though he never saw any real action.
He was a cook on a non-combat base in South Vietnam. Nevertheless, his military career was
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marked by a two-month stay in the brig in part because he was already involved with drugs.
Later, he would try to claim PTSD for disability money. He would go on to have four children
with Marilyn Lune Smart in a relationship peppered with threats and violence.
In the 1980s, after the bodies were found, Marilyn herself would go unnoticed by the media,
(07:19):
though police questioned her on numerous occasions. Of those children, only Justin Smart, age 12,
was living with Marty and Marilyn at the time of the murders. Marilyn was allegedly no more
attentive than Sue, often losing track of her son Justin's whereabouts. You'll be shocked to
discover how this inattentiveness contributed to the case. Like Sue, Marilyn was also known for
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having her own share of affairs. By the time the Sharps moved down the street, Marty was working
as a cook at Ketti Lodge Restaurant. As part of his compensation package, he received free rent at
number 26. Shortly before the murders, he lost his job. Rumor has it he was fired for dealing drugs
out of the back of the restaurant at the time. Losing his job meant losing free rent. He was
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going to need to start paying his rent. One time, he briefly lived with a friend, former mobster named
Bo Bood in Reno. Bo would later come back to move into cabin number 26. Marty Smart and Bo Bood B.D.
are most likely to have been the two people who entered the cabin on April 11th with murder on
their minds. Yet they walked free until their deaths, along with several potential co-conspirators.
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A fourth family story touches on the tale of the Ketti murders. The Meeks family, overseen by
family matriarch Nina Meeks. Nina Meeks was supposedly Sue's best friend in the area, and they often
spent time together. One of Nina's sons, Wade, was allegedly involved with Marilyn Smart at the
time of the murder. The other Richard Meeks may have been the father of Sheila's child. Up to six
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people could ultimately have served as accessories, accomplices, and potential instigators in this
case. The Meeks are shadowy figures in this story. Keep them in mind as you continue to explore these
chilling events. On the morning of April 12th, Sheila returned home to cabin 28 to change clothes for
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church. She spotted three tied up bodies. They'd been bludgeoned and stabbed to death. She then ran
back to the Seabolt home. The Seabolts, who did not have a phone, raced to the lodge to report the
crime to the police. Three people were dead in the house, but three people still lived. The spare
bedroom held Greg Sharp, age five, Rick Sharp, age 10, and Justin Smart, age 12. The two Sharp boys
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were in the bottom bunk. Smart was in the top bunk. The media would report they likely slept
through the crime. I think you're going to have reason later on to question that assessment.
Sue, John, and Dana were beaten to death with claw hammers and stabbed multiple times. Yet Rick
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and Greg supposedly remain sound asleep on the bottom bunk. One room over. At least one scream
was loud enough to briefly rouse neighbors in cabin 16. Directly behind the Sharp cabin, it is highly
unlikely the boys slept through the whole thing. Justin Smart was there too. Curled up in the top
bunk without Marilyn or Marty's knowledge or permission. He was the murder's only known eyewitness.
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Traumatized and confused, he at times told investigators he saw everything through a crack in the
door. Influenced by his trauma, he at times said he dreamed the whole thing. He has recounted both
the witness version and what he called the quote dream version, which is eerily similar to the
former but more stylized as if relayed from a place of dissociation and fear. Either way, he
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described two suspects tying up Sue, John, and Dana before beating and torturing them to death.
All indications show a young man who did the best he could in the face of horrific circumstances
and did what he could to aid the police. He even tried fruitlessly to warn Doug Thomas that Tina
was missing and presumed not dead and that the killers may have taken her quote down by the river.
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While nobody has ever said so, there's a good chance he might have told the younger boys in the
bunk beneath him to be very quiet and very still, protecting them as best he could. He might even
have heroically ordered them to freeze and pretend to sleep. More horrifying still, the police found
blood on the door to the boys room. They found blood on the wall inside. As you'll soon learn, the
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murderers would have been covered in blood at the time, soaked and steeped in it. It's my guess that
they walked inside. They saw all three boys and most likely saw that Justin was awake. There was a
reason why they chose not to remove this final loose end. This last eyewitness, when Justin
Smart stared into the eyes of a killer that night, was he staring into the eyes of his own father,
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was his presence in that room that night? The only reason Greg and Rick were spared? Later, Sheila
Sharp and Jamie Seabolt would help the three boys climb out the window so they wouldn't have to
walk through the blood-soaked house to leave the cabin. The Keddie murders were so premeditated
that even the timing of the murders was planned and accounted for. Many cabin residents were out of
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town for school vacation, reducing the number of potential witnesses. In addition, based on the
normal schedules of several of the individuals involved, quite a few people were in that cabin who
weren't even supposed to be there that night. As mentioned, Tina spent nearly every Friday and
Saturday night with the Seabolds, so she shouldn't have been there that night. John and Dana wouldn't
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have been there under normal circumstances either. They both often spent weekends with friends. John
would generally return home on Sunday night so he could be ready for school in the morning. If John
and Dana were the target, someone followed them there. No adult seemed to realize that Justin
Smart was spending most nights at the Sharp cabin. If Sue were the target, her killers would have
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expected her to be home alone, save for two very young boys and perhaps Sheila. Sheila had not
been there long enough to establish a regular schedule. What do you think? Do you think the
killers got more than they bargained for? The initial investigator for the case was then County
Sheriff Doug Thomas, the very man who had lived inside cabin number 28 prior to the Sharp family.
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He was also known to be Marty Smart's good friend. And Marty had been a guest at his cabin many
times in the past. He said he did not believe that Marty and his friend Bo were the culprits.
Residents reported that Thomas was often seen in the company of drug dealers and counted many of
them among his friends. Trust in the Plumas County Sheriff's Department was already at an all-time
(14:12):
low by the time Doug Thomas rolled up to the crime scene in cabin number 28. Doug Thomas told
the papers the murder was all about Tina, but no other evidence seems to indicate that is the case.
There is a good chance Tina was taken and killed for one reason and one reason only because she
witnessed something she was never meant to see. The only question was why the murderers took her
(14:35):
off the property instead of killing her with the others. Both potential answers I found will
chill you to the bone. Later, two Department of Justice agents arrived to investigate, but they
weren't from homicide. They were from the organized crime unit. One of the suspects, Boby Deed, was a
former member of an organized crime outfit in Chicago. Their presence on the case immediately
(14:58):
caused confusion and suspicion among the residents. Do you think the DOJ was there to lend their
honest efforts to the case? Or do you think they were there to protect Bo, a man who might well
have been a witness on what they would have considered to be a much bigger and more important
case than the murder of an impoverished single mom and a handful of teenagers? Officer Mike
(15:23):
Gamberg was among Thomas' employees at the time. He had a personal connection with the case
and was friendly with John Sharp and Dana Wingate. Wingate had visited his home just a day or so
before the murder, but Mike been suspended on an unrelated matter. When he got back to the force,
he was kept far from the case. He tried to give Doug Thomas leads, but Doug ignored everything
(15:48):
Mike had to say. Gamberg is important because by 1983, the case had essentially been shuttered.
It remained so until a new sheriff rode into town. Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood reopened the
case in 2016 and summoned Gamberg back to the force to serve as a special investigator. Hagwood
and Gamberg completed most of the credible work on the case. They arrived to find a mess of a case
(16:13):
file. Leads had been dropped and evidence had been lost, contaminated or ignored. Yet they have
continued to spend eight years faithfully attempting to put the pieces together so that the
surviving family and community could have justice at last. By 5 p.m. on April 11th, Sue, Ricky,
(16:40):
Greg and Justin settled in for dinner in cabin number 28. Sheila and Tina were next door in
cabin number 27 having dinner with the Seabolds. Sheila told the Seabolds that Sue wanted Tina home
that night before 10 p.m. Across the way, in cabin number 14, a man named Thomas spotted a woman
doing dishes in the kitchen at 8 p.m. Tina returned home at 9 p.m. Sheila accompanied her
(17:06):
retrieved night clothes and returned to the Seabolt residence. Between 9 p.m. and 9 30 p.m. Sue
received a phone call. Greg, Rick and Justin Smart heard her say, who is this before hanging up?
It is possible someone made the call to verify that Sue was home. Rick, Greg and Justin Smart were
all in bed by 10 p.m. An hour later, Sheila and the Seabolds went to bed at 11 p.m. At 11 30 p.m.
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a neighbor named Arthur, a resident of cabin number 11, walks by the house on his way to the
back door bar. He noted the cabin and the street were unusually dark. Multiple neighbors said the
same thing, that it was dark in front of the cabin and the darkness was unusual because Thomas
spotted someone doing dishes in the home at 8 p.m. We know the lights were likely still on at that
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time and would have gone off somewhere between 8 o'clock and 11 30 when Arthur walked by. Remember,
the only way to turn off the street light was with cabin number 28's porch light switch inside the
cabin as the two were hardwired together. There are contradictory accounts of when John and Dana
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arrived and who brought them home. They'd spent most of the evening trying to get a ride back to
Keddie without much success. Some accounts say they made it home by 10 p.m. Others say they were
home by midnight. Either way, they most likely went straight down to the basement. Meanwhile,
at about 10 p.m. Martin Smart, Boba Day and Marilyn Smart go to the back door bar dressed to the
(18:48):
nines. Martin and Bo wore flashy suits and cheap sunglasses while Marilyn wore a long white dress.
Very few people were at the bar that night, but those who were there said the trio was acting
weird. By 1 a.m. Martin claims to have been, quote, pissed off by a change in the music. The three
people were stormed out and Marilyn claimed to have gone home. Their route would have taken them
(19:12):
right past the sharp house. At around 1 p.m. 15 a.m. two people named Barbara and Michael in cabin
number 16 awake to hear muffled screams. They soon dismissed the screams and go back to bed.
Chances are around this time Dana and John run up from the basement to try to save Sue and Tina.
For their heroism, they soon become the next victims. Bo and Marty claimed they returned alone to
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the bar at 1 p.m. again walking past the sharp house. Nobody seems to have a solid time stamp for
the two men's arrival at the back door bar for the second time that night. What do you think?
If Bo and Marty were walking by the house at exactly 1 p.m. on the way back to the bar, they
likely would have heard the same screams as cabin 16. Unless of course at 1 p.m. 15 they were inside
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the cabin committing murder. Is it possible they went to the bar and were as showy as possible in
the hopes of being seen so that they could attempt to establish some kind of an alibi? We know one
thing for sure. By the time those two men returned to the back door bar, Sue was dead. John and Dana
were dead and Tina had been taken. Police uncovered quite a bit of evidence at the scene. One of the
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two hammers used to commit the murder as well as both of the knives. A bent steak knife and a
sturdier butcher's knife. The medical tape and electrical cords used to bind the victims were on
site and did not appear to have come from cabin number 28. Police also recovered a yellow blanket
that someone had used to cover Sue. They found evidence of an 880 BB gun or pellet rifle, the
(20:58):
butt of which had been used to hit Sue, though this was not recovered at the scene. The phone was
off the hook. There was blood everywhere, but all of it appeared to have come from the victims. The
bottoms of Sue's feet were covered in it. The boys had blood on the bottom of their shoes as well,
indicating they had perhaps in a state of shock wandered through the blood at some point. 1981
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was still too early for DNA collection at crime scenes, which would not begin until 1985. Therefore,
the initial investigation did not recover any DNA and the papers reported that there were no
prints at the scene. Investigators found Sue lying on her side, gagged and naked from the waist down.
Someone had rearranged her out of what had previously been an indecent condition and covered
(21:47):
her. There were defensive injuries on her arms. Some suggest that Justin Smart covered Sue's body
before scuttling back to the top bunk. Eventually, police would collect more than 200 pieces of
evidence from this scene, even dismantling the walls. Yet the entire investigation was completely
mishandled. Greg Hagwood would later say, if the right things had been done, this case would have
(22:10):
been solved within weeks. What do you think? Were Doug Thomas and the two DOJ investigators who
arrived in Plumas County incompetent? Or was this a deliberate cover-up? Wait until you hear how
the evidence was handled after the fact. The Keddie murder case is an unusual case for my channel
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because unlike many of the crimes I cover, there is a strong chance that we most likely know the
identity of at least two of the murderers, even though nobody was ever charged in connection
with this crime. Yet investigators say they believe there may be at least four other accomplices out
there somewhere. As there is no statute of limitations on murder, these accomplices may yet be
(22:53):
charged and brought to justice. Questions swirl about the identities of these accomplices and their
motives for murder. The identity of at least one of the potential accomplices is sure to shock you.
Let's talk about the most far-fetched theory first. Okay? In this theory, John and Dana were the
(23:15):
targets of the murder. Witnesses say that the two might have stolen ten sheets of acid, perhaps to
fuel a rumored, quote, acid party that was taking place in the region on the night of the murders.
Witnesses report they saw John and Dana arguing with two young Native Americans earlier in the day
and that the Native Americans had threatened to kill them if they didn't get what they want.
(23:36):
Was this a drug crime, an act of retribution over stolen drugs? Perhaps. This theory mostly seems
like a red herring. Given according to toxicology screens, neither John nor Dana had any drugs
or alcohol in their system that night. While hearsay says that both boys dabbled in marijuana from
(23:58):
time to time and that they certainly spent a lot of time hitchhiking between cabin number 28 and the
home where Dana's foster parents lived, the type of trouble they got into seemed to be normal teenage
trouble. In addition, if someone followed them home, they'd have known to go into the basement
through the exterior entrance rather than into the home and straight to Sue's room.
(24:21):
While Hagwood and Gamberg claim at least six people could have been involved in the murders,
Bo and Marty are the suspects we know the most about. Accounts vary as to the relationship between Marty
and Sue. There were rumors of an affair between them, but other rumors said Sue was trying to talk
Marilyn into leaving Marty because of his abusive behavior. Marilyn herself claims that Marty also
(24:48):
hated John and Tina and that he threatened to break John's hands just one month prior to the murders.
The act of rage story is certainly the prevailing and most popular story. Do you think it's as simple
as a pair of violent men committing violent acts only to be aided by a friendly or incompetent
sheriff who mishandled the entire investigation or do you believe there's more to it than that?
(25:18):
The third theory involves Nina Meeks. Nina claims that on April 11th until returning home at 5 p.m.
Sue and her kids were all over at her house playing board games and having a great time.
Several eyewitness accounts contradict this claim leading to an important question. Why did she lie?
(25:40):
Some have suggested that Nina wasn't really Sue's friend in the end. Sheila claimed Richard Meeks was
the father of her baby despite the fact that many of Dana Wingate's friends claimed he was extremely
worried that the baby might have been his. Perhaps Nina became enraged when Sue put the baby, her grandchild
for adoption and arranged to have Sue murdered as a result. This theory doesn't explain who did the
(26:07):
actual deed. There's no suggestion that any of the Meeks boys were anywhere near the crime scene that night.
However, the sharps, Meeks and Smarts were quite intertwined and Marty was facing eviction.
Is it possible she offered a desperate man and his friend, the former hitman, money so that they would
retaliate against Sue on her behalf? This theory is the darkest and most disturbing of the four theories.
(26:36):
It describes a conspiracy between Sheila Sharp, Marilyn Lune Smart, Bobo Bay D. and Martin Smart with perhaps
two others providing support or withholding information. In this theory, each of the four had their own motives
for committing the brutal murder. First, Marilyn was allegedly deep in an affair with Wade Meeks.
(26:57):
After the murders, she moved in with him and they became romantically involved for a time.
Members of the community recount that while Marilyn felt free to sleep around herself, she became
enraged when Marty cheated on her. Marty had his brief stay in Reno with Bo after she kicked him out of the house.
Did she see Sue as a rival? Someone she wanted gone? Did she see an opportunity to have Marty charged with murder?
(27:21):
A neat, clean way to get him out of her life? Citing a fear of Marty, Marilyn moved out of cabin number 26 days
after the murder. She filed for divorce on April 23, 1981. Then there was Sheila, the parentified child.
Some accounts suggest she wanted to keep her baby and leaned hard into the narrative that it was Richards,
(27:43):
especially when Nina was around, that she hated her mother and hated her family and intended to move in with Nina Meeks
as soon as possible. Assuming Nina would never turn her own grandchild away, so that when Sue put the child up for adoption
instead, she wrecked Sheila's entire escape plan. Did she hate her family enough? To conspire with Marilyn?
(28:04):
Bo and Marty? It would explain why she slept over at the Seabolds when she'd never shown an interest in doing so before.
She also would have had an opportunity to switch off the porch light and thus the street light when she was getting her clothes.
Police later found the front porch light unscrewed as well. Doug Thomas' deputy Steve Wright would later reach up and absently
(28:28):
screw the light back in. Sheila's fingerprints were found on the light alongside Steve.
If this theory is true, it suggests a chilling narrative. Sheila herself was the only source of information about why Tina went home.
As inattentive as Sue was, summoning Tina home would have been strange. Did Sheila make up the story to send Tina to her death,
(28:52):
freeing herself from one more obligation? Perhaps she expected the boys to die too, not realizing that Justin Smart's presence would
ultimately complicate that part of the plan. If she did, Sheila put a monkey wrench into the plan because there's a good chance the
killers didn't expect Tina to be there. Was Tina's scream the one that the neighbors heard in cabin 16? She might have been curled up
(29:16):
in her little bed when it began, only to seal her fate by revealing her presence. What do you think? Do you think Sheila carefully staged her role
in these events, settling into bed that night in the hopes that every member of her family would be dead by morning?
(29:38):
One lingering question in this investigation is why the killers bothered to take Tina with them. If it was merely to silence an eyewitness,
they could have simply killed her while she was there in the cabin. Instead, it's possible Tina lived for two more years.
When her remains were found on April 22, 1984, in Plumas National Forest, a forensic anthropologist said she could have died at any time between the spring of 1981 and the winter of 1983.
(30:09):
Unfortunately, they only found parts of Tina's skull and were barely able to identify her with dental records, let alone determine the time or nature of the death.
One reason to take Tina might have been Bo himself. Marilyn claims that both of Bo's ex-wives were only 18 years old. One chilling possibility is that he liked young girls
(30:31):
and wished to keep her for his own purposes until he ultimately disposed of her, leaving practically nothing behind. It's also possible that even these cold-blooded killers had an attack of conscience.
Perhaps they injured Tina, but she hadn't died yet. Killing a little girl in cold blood might have been too much even for them. Perhaps she later succumbed to her injuries
(30:54):
and when they dumped the body, wild animals got to her, destroying most of the evidence. Do you have a theory as to why the killers took Tina and where and how she died?
If so, let me know in the comments below. When Hagwood reopened the case in 2016 and brought Gamberg back on board, the two men sprang into action.
(31:18):
By now, Martin Smart was gone having died in 2006, as was Bo Baobidi having allegedly died in 1988. Nevertheless, the two lawmen believed there were at least four more members of the community out there involved in the crime.
People who still needed to be brought to justice. What they found left them in a state of dismay. Case history logs had disappeared entirely.
(31:42):
Many pieces of evidence had been contaminated. Some had been left in a freezer, but the freezer was turned off. Then there were plenty of leads that nobody had ever followed up on.
There was the fact that Martin, quote, helpfully told investigators he'd lost a hammer or maybe had it stolen before any investigator ever asked him about a hammer.
(32:05):
There was the letter that Martin Smart wrote to Marilyn after fleeing Kedde shortly after the murders, wherein the letter said, quote, I've paid the price of your love and now I've bought it with four people's lives.
You tell me we are through. Great. What else do you want? I've paid for your love. Please give it back at least once, end quote.
(32:27):
The letter was, quote, overlooked and never listed as evidence. Marilyn claims she never received it and learned about it from investigators.
Then there was a call from a Reno Veterans Administration counselor to the Department of Justice.
The counselor claimed that Marty Smart had confessed to the murders to a agents arrived at her office and took copious notes, then left.
(32:51):
It does not appear that anyone did anything with the information.
There was the chilling anonymous phone call that came into the Butte County Sheriff's Office on the day that Tina's remains were located.
The caller said, quote, I was watching the news and they were talking about a girl found at Feather Falls. I was just wondering if you thought of the murder up in Kedde.
(33:14):
In Plumas County a couple of years ago where a 12 year old girl was never found, the chances that any casual news viewer would connect the remains to the Kedde case were slim to none.
So Gamberg was appalled to find the tape in an envelope at the bottom of a box. He said the envelope was sealed and that nobody had ever listened to the tape.
He had scientists attempt to compare the voices on the tape with the voices of known suspects, but he has not disclosed to the public if he ever found a match.
(33:44):
Despite everything, Hagwood and Gamberg made some progress on the case.
In 2016, they located the missing hammer in a pond down the road from Cabin 28. They also pulled partial DNA from a piece of white medical tape used to bind the victim's hands.
The DNA was a match to at least one still living suspect, though they have not yet disclosed who that suspect might have been.
(34:10):
I could not find out why they have remained silent.
In 2021, Greg Hagwood and Mike Gamberg believed they were quote closer than ever to solving this case. Yet many years have passed and there have been no new arrests, no charges, no indictments.
Today, the Kedde Cabin sit in a virtual ghost town frequented mainly by shady characters and the occasional curious soul brave enough to venture onto the property.
(34:39):
Cabin 28 was torn down years ago. Do you believe that the questions surrounding the case will ever be answered or was this investigation already doomed by the time Doug Thomas arrived on the scene on the morning of April 12th?
Share your theories and insights in the comments below. Perhaps you can shed some light on the lingering questions swirling around this chilling and mysterious story.
(35:06):
I want you to know that listeners like you are the most important people to odd mystery stories. Thank you so much for listening to this story.
I hope you would please consider subscribing to my podcast. If you know of a story that is unsolved, strange, odd, and of course mysterious, I invite you to share the known details of that story with me.
(35:32):
You can either go to one of my social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter, or you can simply email me at the following email address with no spaces, odd mysteries, the number 4, and the letter u at gmail.com.
Again, that email address is with no spaces, odd mysteries, the number 4, and the letter u at gmail.com. I will do my very best to answer all messages, so don't hesitate to reach out to me.
(35:58):
In the next episode, I'll share the odd, mysterious story of the murder of Jill Dando.
On the morning of April 26, 1999, this well-known English journalist and TV personality was shot dead outside her home in southwest London.
The investigation that followed apprehended and ultimately convicted a local man. Only to have his conviction overturned eight years later, her murder remains unsolved.
(36:26):
Tune in as I share the details of this strange case in my next episode.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, please leave me a review. Download and share this story with your friends.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this podcast and want to help it grow, head over to my Patreon page, buy me a cup of coffee, and donate to the show in exchange for future premium content.
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